Watergate and President Richard Nixon: Transcript of Nixon's Grand Jury Testimony in June 1975 plus Historic Watergate Document Reproductions from the Break-in to Impeachment

Unsealed by the U.S. Government in November 2011, the complete transcript of President Richard Nixon's long-secret grand jury testimony on June 23, 1975 is presented in ebook form, converted for accurate flowing-text reproduction. In addition, a comprehensive collection of historic Watergate documents is reproduced as part two of this ebook.

PART ONE: In May 1975, the Watergate Special Prosecution Force (WSPF) decided that it was necessary to question former President Richard M. Nixon in connection with various investigations being conducted by that office. Chief Judge George Hart signed an order authorizing that the sworn deposition of Mr. Nixon be taken at the Coast Guard Station in San Mateo, California with two members of the grand jury present. The deposition was taken in California because Mr. Nixon’s doctor had determined that Mr. Nixon was unable to travel to Washington DC for health reasons.

The areas of inquiry that were agreed upon by the WSPF and Mr. Nixon’s counsel were as follows: The circumstances surrounding the 18 1/2 minute gap in the tape of a meeting between Mr. Nixon and H. R. Haldeman on June 20, 1972. * Alleged receipt of large amounts of cash by Charles G. Rebozo or Rose Mary Woods on behalf of Mr. Nixon and financial transactions between Mr. Rebozo and Mr. Nixon. * Attempts to prevent the disclosure of the existence of the National Security Council wiretap program through removal of the records from the FBI, the dealing with any threats to reveal the existence of such records, and the testimony of L. Patrick Gray at his confirmation hearings to be FBI Director. * Any relationship between campaign contributions and the consideration of ambassadorships for Ruth Farkas, J. Fife Symington, Jr., Vincent DeRoulet, Cornelius V. Whitney, and Kingdon Gould, Jr. * The obtaining and release of information by the White House concerning Lawrence O’Brien through use of the Internal Revenue Service.

Nixon addressed a little-known Pentagon spying probe, in which a wiretap was placed on Yeoman Charles Radford, suspected of transmitting White House secrets to the Joint Chiefs of Staff.

PART TWO: Here is the story of the Watergate scandal that brought down the presidency of Richard M. Nixon, including unique reproductions of historic government documents. After June 17, 1972, the word "Watergate" could no longer be just the name of an office and hotel complex in Washington, D.C. On that date it became a byword for political corruption. In the early hours of that mid-June morning, and in the middle of a presidential campaign, five men were arrested for breaking into the Democratic National Committee headquarters located in one of the Watergate offices. The details of this story would form an ever-rising pool of political deceit in which swirled a constitutional crisis that claimed a presidency. Every major aspect of the historic sequence of events in Watergate is reviewed: * The trial of the "Watergate Seven" burglars * Judge John Sirica * Senate Select Committee on Presidential Campaign Activities hearings, chaired by Senator Sam Ervin * People: Haldeman, Ehrlichman, Mitchell, Dean, Hunt, Liddy * Battle for the Tapes * Trials and Tribulations * Special Prosecutor Archibald Cox and the Saturday Night Massacre * Transcripts, Document Reproductions, Timelines, Photographs * FBI Report excerpt with a Chronology of Watergate-related Events and Biographical Sketches of Major Figures * The Aftermath